News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations

Chinese Title: 暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消
In the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays (which I did).
Reading Mandarin Chinese News: Reading Materials for Advanced LearnersThis is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria.
Lots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you’ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess – example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you’re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state.
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暴风 – bào fēng – Blizzard
造成 – zào chéng – To cause, bring about
严寒 – yán hán – Severe winter
警告 – jǐng gào – Warning (typically official one, issued by police or govt.)
凛冽 – lǐn liè – Biting cold
构成 – gòu chéng – To constitute
威胁 – wēi xié – Threat
气象部门 – qì xiàng bù mén – Weather service
成千上万 – chéng qiān shàng wàn – Tens of thousands
推迟 – tuī chí – To postpone
圣诞节期间美国遭遇暴风雪袭击，已至少造成15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。
据报道，因暴雪严寒造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。
很多地区发出警告提醒人们不要外出，因为凛冽狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人构成威胁。气象部门说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。
目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，成千上万出游的人们滞留在各处。nba推迟了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。
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This Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights.
According to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Many regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America’s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people’s Christmas travel plans will be effected.
Currently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night’s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.